News in Brief

GIA and Ground Zero offer double the girl power

Reaching girls just got a whole lot easier with the marriage of marketing & research outfit Girls Intelligence Agency (GIA) and ad agency Ground Zero. The companies have hooked up to form a one-stop brand development shop for companies targeting the female youth market, offering a range of services that includes product concept research, placement testing, strategic planning, advertising, promotions and event marketing. GIA, whose entertainment client roster features the likes of Universal (Blue Crush), DreamWorks (Spirit) and Warner Bros. (the Harry Potter franchise), has relocated to Ground Zero’s L.A. digs, and the two companies are currently scouting for new business in categories including apparel, finance, automotive, technology and food & beverage.

Cartoon Network goes door to door with UNICEF

Looking to give a Halloween fundraising institution a bit of a modern kids media boost, Cartoon Network has signed on as the official TV network partner for the ‘Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF’ penny drive. As part of the program, which runs until November 5, Cartoon will shell out a series of PSAs and promotional tools for spreading the word at local Halloween celebrations to all of its cable affiliates. Cartoonnetwork.com plans to tie in with an on-line game and educational web page, and Internet-based digital trading community Cartoon Orbit will release a series of exclusive original C-Toons (virtual trading cards). Cartoon and UNICEF also plan to coordinate a number of costumed character appearances and premium giveaways in select U.S. markets, and UNICEF will distribute Cartoon-branded in-school educational materials for K-12 students.

Cartoon’s sister network TNT has partnered with UNICEF for the past four years to get parents on board the Halloween program, but Cartoon Network was chosen this year specifically for its mainline connection to kids.